Society Cannot Afford Choices Like Multiple Births, Life Sentences

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

January 1, 1999

The voices complaining about high taxes and the increasing cost and restrictions of medical insurance need to examine a number of articles recently in the Sun-Sentinel.

First, there's the convicted killer, Keo Nottage, who escaped the death penalty because of his age (19 when he killed Thomas Patrick Kelly, and now 20) and the fact that he was subject to the destructive influence of his older friends. His sentencing to life without parole means that we, the taxpayers, will support this killer for the rest of his life. His maintenance includes food, clothing, shelter, utilities, exercise and entertainment, and the costs of his no-doubt numerous appeals. In short, it will cost us several million dollars until this 20-year-old dies. A quick trip to the electric chair would save us a great deal. How much of your taxes are you willing to allocate to the maintenance and appeals of a killer?

And then there are the Houston octuplets, whose care will run to $2 million. What a waste of time, energy, expertise and money. Although covered by insurance, these are the "choices" that we all pay for in higher premiums and more restricted coverage. If a couple want to chance infertility treatments, let them pay for any and all costs, not through insurance but out of their own pockets.

The same needs to be said for multiple organ transplants. These "heroic" treatments make wonderful human interest stories. But someone pays for this treatment.In all of this, we need to measure the value to society of these activities -- plea bargaining to get around the death penalty; fertility treatments; and organ transplants -- against the costs of these procedures. Can society really afford all this "ethics" and "choice"?

A drowning man does not have a conclusive right to be pulled into an overcrowded rowboat. The well-being of the other occupants of the boat needs to be taken into account. And who makes the decision as to whether an attempt is made to rescue him or not? We do: the majority of citizens and taxpayers. We can no longer afford these niceties; we need to put our economic house in order as a society, just as we do in budgeting for our families.